A medical worker prepares to administer a 50mcg dose of Nano Covax to a volunteer (Photo: VNA)The inoculation for 560 volunteers, with 280getting shots from each unit, was carried out in 12 days.
Initial assessment shows that Navo Covax is“relatively safe” for the volunteers, said Chu Van Men, Director of theMilitary Medical University’s Centre for Clinical Trials and Bioequivalence.
The 560 volunteers were divided into fourgroups, with 80 people injected with placebo and three other groups administeredwith 25mcg, 50mcg, and 75mcg doses.
Among them, there are 105 people aged over 60,and the eldest is 76 years old. Some also have “not-too-serious” underlyinghealth conditions like high blood pressure, blood lipid disorders, diabetes,and cardiovascular diseases.
Men said all the volunteers are currently instable health condition, noting that their blood samples will be collected forantibody testing on the 28th, 34th, and 42nd days, as well as after three andsix months, since the first jabs.
They are set to get the second shots of NanoCovax after the next 28 days, he added.
To accelerate the progress, the second-stagehuman trials were conducted in two places, Hanoi and southern Long An province,so as to shorten the research duration to three months, instead of six months,but still meet scientific requirements, he went on.
A preliminary report on testing results isscheduled to be issued this May.
The third phase of human trials is expected tocover 10,000 – 15,000 people in both Vietnam and other countries.
The first-stage trials of Nano Covax showed thatthe vaccinated volunteers have had antibodies against the UK variant (B117).Phase 2 focuses on seeking antibodies against the UK and South Africa variants,according to Men.
Navo Covax, developed by the NanogenPharmaceutical Biotechnology JSC, is the first COVID-19 vaccine of Vietnam tobe tested in clinical trials.
The country also has other COVID-19 candidatevaccines under development: IVAC from the Institute of Vaccines and MedicalBiologicals, VABIOTECH from the Company for Vaccine and Biological ProductionNo 1, and POLYVAC from the Centre for Research and Production of Vaccines andBiologicals./.
VNA
